Dark Horse and ComiXology Cut a Deal to Bring comiXology Originals to Print
Dark Horse Comics and comiXology have announced that Dark Horse will distribute print editions of comiXology Originals graphic novels and collections. Select titles from the creator-owned line of comiXology Originals will be available in print for the first time for customers in comic shops, bookstores, and libraries. The program will commence in Spring 2021 with the release of paperback editions of the Eisner Award winner AFTERLIFT, Breaklands, YOUTH, and The Black Ghost.
When comiXology Originals was announced, print was a part of some of the releases through Amazon’s print on demand. While the digital program pressed on, the physical release of comics became few and far between to the complete lack of mention for numerous rounds of announcements.
Through this deal, Dark Horse Comics will be responsible for distribution and fulfillment for the titles through Diamond Comic Distributors for comic shops and Penguin Random House for bookstores around the world. ComiXology Originals will remain available to be read digitally for members of Amazon Prime, Kindle Unlimited, and comiXology Unlimited and for purchase on Kindle and comiXology.
ComiXology Originals’ exclusive content line debuted in 2017, and in their first year garnered an Eisner Award for Harvey Kurtzman’s Marley’s Ghost. The next year saw an Eisner Award nomination for The Stone King by Kel McDonald and Tyler Crook, and in 2020 an Eisner Award win for AFTERLIFT. In addition to the creator-owned line of exclusive content, comiXology Originals, through a partnership with Kodansha Comics, has re-released and newly translated manga such as BECK, Initial D and The Drops of God.
The comiXology Originals making their print debut in 2021 include:
AFTERLIFT, collecting the Eisner Award-winning issues #1-5 – For the first time in print!
- Written by Eisner Award winner Chip Zdarsky, best known for his work on Sex Criminals and Marvel Comics, with art by Jason Loo, the acclaimed artist of The Pitiful Human-Lizard, colors by Paris Alleyne, letters by Aditya Bidikar and edited by Allison O’Toole.
- AFTERLIFT is a 2020 Eisner Award winning series.
- In AFTERLIFT, Janice Chen is adrift. She quits her day job in finance and signs up to be a driver on a ride-sharing app. But what was at first a mundane but enjoyable way to pass the time takes a terrible turn when a mysterious passenger updates his ride with a very final destination: Hell.
- 136 pages / color / on sale February 2 in bookstores and everywhere books are sold and February 3 in comic shops / MSRP $19.99/$25.99 pbk / ISBN: 978-1-5067-2440-9
Breaklands Volume One, collecting issues #1-5 – For the first time in print!
- Written by Justin Jordan, the co-creator and writer of The Strange Talent of Luther Strode, with art by acclaimed artist Tyasseta, colors by Sarah Stern, and letters by Rachel Deering.
- Set 150 years after humanity developed psychic powers and ended the world as we know it, a new world has emerged. Everyone has powers. Some powers, like the ability to light a match, are modest. But some powers—like the ability to reshape the world—are both vast and dangerous. Kasa Fain is different. She doesn’t possess powers. Kasa is an outsider, a teenager who has been in hiding, until the day her younger brother is kidnapped and everything changes.
- 152 pages / color / on sale March 2 in bookstores and everywhere books are sold and March 3 in comic shops / MSRP $19.99/$25.99 pbk / ISBN: 978-1-5067-2441-6
YOUTH Volume One, collecting issues #1-4–For the first time in print!
- Written by visionary writer Curt Pires with art by Alex Diotto, the co-creators of the acclaimed comic Olympia, and features colors by Dee Cunniffe, and lettering by Micah Myers.
- In YOUTH, Franklin and River struggle to navigate family, friends, high school, work, drugs, and all the pressures of growing up. As a queer couple, they yearn to escape their lives in a small, bigoted Midwest town. They steal River’s stepfather’s Mustang and hit the road. Their destination? California. But along the way, the car breaks down. They meet some kids who are travelling the country, partying, and attempting to find themselves. They party some more. . . . And soon everything changes.
- A sequel to YOUTH is underway and the comic series is in development as an original TV show with Amazon Studios.
- 136 pages / color / on sale on sale April 6 in bookstores and everywhere books are sold and April 7 in comic shops / MSRP $19.99/$25.99 pbk / ISBN: 978-1-5067-2461-4
The Black Ghost Volume One, collecting issues #1-5–For the first time in print!
- Co-written by Anthony Award-Nominated Novelist Alex Segura and acclaimed writer Monica Gallagher, with art by George Kambadais, colors by Ellie Wright, lettering by Taylor Esposito and edited by Greg Lockard.
- The Black Ghost is a modern take on the urban vigilante story. Lara Dominguez is a journalist chasing that one, big story. After a stint in the Middle East, the alcoholic reporter moves from her hometown of Miami to Creighton – a mid-Atlantic city that’s seen better days. She needs a huge, viral scoop that’ll send her into the journalistic stratosphere. Her target? Uncovering the identity of The Black Ghost – a masked vigilante trying to take down the wealthy oligarchs carving up the fading metropolis. But as she searches for the breakthrough story she desperately needs, Lara will have to navigate the corruption of her adopted city, the uncertainties of virtue, and her own personal demons.
- 136 pages / color / on sale May 4 in bookstores and everywhere books are sold and May 5 in comic shops / MSRP $19.99/$25.99 pbk / ISBN: 978-1-50672-446-1
More comiXology Originals print editions will be announced at a later date.
The world of comic books has always spoke to part of everyone who has picked up a comic or has been drawn to its characters through television or the movies. As children of color looks to the world and to media, for reflections of themselves, for my generation and ones before, this was a hopeless venture. This has changed for children born in the new millennia as the times have become increasingly progressive yet somewhat backwards at times. As shows like Black Lightning, and The Runaways, gave viewers, a more realistic view of the world, this need to find images that looks like their audience has never gone way.
